DUP leader Peter Robinson: party wins the most seats

PETER Robinson’s DUP won the most seats in the Northern Ireland 2014 council elections.

But Sinn Fein took the most votes as TUV broke new ground in the elections to the 11 reorganised super councils.

The Ulster Unionists also made gains while the SDLP and Alliance lost ground in some areas.

Sex scandal hit NI21 won one seat.

The DUP won 130 seats, Sinn Féin 105, UUP 88, SDLP 66 and Alliance 32.

Counting ended in the early hours of Sunday morning for the 462 seats contested by around 900 candidates.

Counting for the European elections begins on Monday with ten candidates vying for three seats.

Martina Anderson, Diane Dodds and Jim Nicholson are all expected to returned to Brussels.

The DUP share of the vote dipped from 27 per cent share in 2011 to 23 per cent while Sinn Fein’s rose by 0.5 per cent to 24 per cent.

The UUPs vote rose by 1 per cent to 16.5 per cent

The SDLP will now have to look at why it polled so badly with its vote fell to 13.5 percent from 15 per cent.

Alliance’s share of the vote is down to 6 per cent.

Jim Allister was jubilant as his TUV party vote rose to 4.5 per cent.

NI21 got one candidate elected, Johnny McCarthy in Lisburn.